Fraud happens: At the polling place, that is

EDITORIALDecember 25. 2012 9:56PM
During the debate over New Hampshire's voter ID law, we were told time and time again that there is no such thing as voter fraud. Surely it is total coincidence that two recent cases of voter fraud involve people who belong to the same political party as those who tried to prevent New Hampshire from requiring a photo ID at the polling place.

Last Thursday, the FBI announced that Massachusetts Democratic state Rep. Stephen Smith, 57, of Everett, Mass., had agreed to plead guilty to "submitting fraudulent absentee ballot applications and casting invalid ballots in multiple elections in 2009 and 2010."

Smith fraudulently obtained absentee ballots and gave them to ineligible voters, who cast votes for him, according to the FBI.

In Maryland, Wendy Rosen, the initial Democratic nominee for the state's 1st Congressional District, has been charged with voting illegally in 2006 and 2010, The Washington Post reported on Thursday. Rosen allegedly voted in both Florida and Maryland in those years.

Also last week, Iowa's secretary of state announced that since August his office has filed charges in eight cases of alleged voter misconduct.

Voter fraud does not happen? That is a talking point used by people who have an interest in keeping voter fraud easier to commit. It does not happen with great frequency, but it happens.